Vines Art Festival hosts Multitides—a site-collaborative tidal walk at Spanish Banks, August 15 to 18

The self-guided stroll at Spanish Banks’ tidal flats comes with an eight-page zine

Vines Art Festival presents Multitides—a site collaborative tidal walk on August 15 from 8:50 am to 10:50 am; August 16 from 9:40 am to 11:40 am; August 17 from 10:40 am to 12:40 pm; and August 18 from 12:30 pm to 2:30 pm

THE TIDAL FLATS of Spanish Banks are the stage for a Vines Art Festival offering called Multitides—a site collaborative tidal walk taking place from August 15 to 18.

Created by Paula Viitanen in collaboration with mechatronics engineer Juan Aldazosa, visual artist Liz Wurzinger, and composer Elliot Vaughan, the self-guided stroll takes place at low tide each day, beginning at a site-responsive installation where participants receive a guidebook leading them into the intertidal zone.

The installation will be in place just outside of the Spanish Banks West concession; measuring approximately eight feet by eight feet, it is designed as a “site-responsive portal or doorway”, Viitanen tells Stir.

“Participants are invited to step through it at the beginning of their tidal walk,” says Viitanen, who has a degree in industrial joinery and a BFA in theatre: production and design. “Our exploration focuses on how a frame or portal might alter one’s awareness and presence in a location. The installation features site-responsive elements, including kinetic parts that react to local weather conditions such as wind and rain and the rising tidal waters.”

Audiences will also be given a guidebook in the form of an eight-page zine. “When unfolded, it reveals a poster-sized map of the tidal flats, showcasing observations and prompts related to the natural features of the area,” Viitanen says. “This guide encourages exploration of the site’s existing dynamics.”

In the booklet, there will be a QR code to a site-specific composition by Vaughan. “The sound will be generated real time based on an algorithm Vaughan created using six different earth and moon cycles turned into oscillators,” Viitanen says.

Vines Art Festival continues to August 17.

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Gail Johnson

Gail Johnson is cofounder of Stir. She is a Vancouver-based journalist who has earned local and national nominations and awards for her work. She is a certified Gladue Report writer via Indigenous Perspectives Society in partnership with Royal Roads University and is a member of a judging panel for top Vancouver restaurants.

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